DROUGHTS AND FLOODS 



617 



in the conclusion that the forest cover- 

 ing is needed and must be had. A 

 glance at the map will show at once 

 that all the streams named have their 

 headwaters in the Southern Appalach- 

 ians and are necessarily affected by the 

 destruction of the forest in that region. 

 How strikingly true this is can be best 

 shown by the statements recently made 

 by City Engineer Twiggs, of Augusta, 

 that "The pow^r canals in Augusta 

 have filled up from silt more in the past 

 eighteen months than in thirteen years 

 previously ;" the character of the silt 

 showing clearly its mountain origin. 

 And this is borne out by the testimony 

 of A. M. Scho-en, Chief Engineer of 

 the Southeastern Underwriter's Asso- 

 ciation, in his report on the Augusta 

 flood in the following impressive warn- 

 ing: "Furthermore, there is reason to 

 believe that heavy freshets in rivers 

 taking their rise in the Southern Appa- 

 lachians are to be anticipated more fre- 

 quently in the future than in the past, 

 owing to the rapid cutting away of the 



timber on the watersheds comprising 

 the drainage basins of these streams, 

 which means an increasing probability 

 of such occurrences as that which over- 

 whelmed Augusta." 



Wherein lies common sense regard- 

 ing this whole matter? Is it not along 

 the line of the immediate establishment 

 of the Appalachian- White Mountain 

 National Forest, and the adoption of a 

 definite forest policy by the National 

 government covering the whole country, 

 as the first step, and does it not point 

 out the work that the states themselves 

 must do within their own borders and 

 with their own citizens toward a ra- 

 tional policy of perpetuation of their 

 own forests — a policy that can be car- 

 ried out only by themselves ? 



If the lesson is learned and heeded, 

 we should have, as promptly as Con- 

 gress can pass the bill, the Appalach- 

 ians, and a State Forest in every South- 

 ern state that will in time insure them 

 against such damage as is herein 

 chronicled. 



ONE OFJENNSYLVANIA'S PERIODICAL FLOODS 



Wreckage of a Steel Bridge, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, Crossing Deer Creek, in Allegheny County 

 Three Lives Were Lost in the Wreck, besides a Locomotive and Five Cars 



